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January 8, 2018

Researchers from Google's Project Zero Team, Cyberus Technology, Graz University of Technology, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland, Rambus, and University of Adelaide and Data61, all discovered critical flaws in a method used by most modern processors for performance optimization that could allow an attacker to read sensitive system memory, which could contain passwords, encryption keys, and emails, for example. The vulnerabilities affect CPUs from Intel, AMD, and ARM, according to Google. The two attacks, called Meltdown and Spectre, can be executed on desktop machines, laptops, mobile devices, and in cloud environments. That means an attacker could steal information from other cloud customers' systems, for example.

Two new portable desktop monitors from ASUS will help business travelers take their office desktop computing experience on the road. ASUS will be offering an ultra HD 4K plugin model and a smaller monitor that is untethered and battery-powered. The monitors could help travelers stay more productive by providing more screen real estate for multitasking and managing multiple programs.

The cloud has been a boon for many organizations, enabling CIOs to turn off servers or even shutter data centers. CIOs rent processing power, storage and other tools from a mix of vendors in a quickly growing market. But a small contingent of IT leaders is looking to a more efficient way to rent computing horsepower. Rather than take on the often onerous obligations of designing and managing cloud architecture, they are going “serverless.” With serverless computing, cloud instances are no longer allocated, only to sit idle until called upon to fuel applications and other functions. Rather, resources are provisioned only when a specific event occurs.

Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies are built upon blockchain, a technology for distributed, secure ledgers with utility in commercial applications. These systems aren’t designed to replace sovereign currency, but to streamline, secure and automate business processes and information sharing. As such, they eliminate some of the complexities and adverse externalities of Bitcoin, notably energy-intensive coin mining, financial speculation and ledger/currency forks. Nevertheless, such business blockchains come with their own set of challenges since the concept of programmable distributed ledgers is sufficiency unique that they can’t easily substitute for established processes. Some skeptics doubt they ever will.

Standing in front of an ATM that just ate your cash deposit without crediting your account or issuing a receipt can leave you feeling helpless, and even hopeless. The ATM Industry Association doesn’t have data that would show the scope of this issue, according to Michael Lee, the group’s chief executive, who says he hasn’t “heard of a single reported case of this happening.” However, based on scores of online message board discussions on the topic, cash-hungry ATMs aren’t a completely unheard-of phenomenon. And considering that 68% of Americans use ATMs at least once a month, according to a 2014 Nielsen study, it is worth knowing how to respond to this potentially frustrating situation.

New mobile-phone capability, coupled with physical stores’ response to the encroachment of e-commerce, will help drive the volume of digital coupons in the next few years, according to a new report. Worldwide redemptions of coupons via mobile phones and online will grow at an average annual rate of 14.1% through 2022, nearly doubling from $47.2 billion in 2017 to $91.2 billion. That is according to Juniper Research in its white paper, “Coupons—3 New Technologies Set to Energise Loyalty.” “It’s worth noting that QR codes will be in competition with other technologies such as [near-field communication] and social-media bots, meaning their time may be short-lived any way as these new technologies are increasingly taken up by consumers,” warns the report.

Biometric identification may combine with credit cards for the latest in secure shopping, thanks to a new contactless credit card released by Gemalto. The credit card and SIM chip-maker recently began creating contactless credit cards with fingerprint recognition. By reducing the inserting and swiping motions and upgrading a passcode from a PIN number to a fingerprint, the new option may make transactions more secure, and reduce fraud.

JCB has unveiled trial plans for a multipurpose palm authentication system in collaboration with Universal Robot (UR) and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Starting in February at JCB’s headquarters in Tokyo, the trial will use UR’s visible light palm authentication system, which uses both palm print and vein patterns. This system, according to UR and JCB, has the “world’s highest level of accuracy” at one in 100 billion false acceptance rates. Unlike other biometric technology, which uses near-infrared light, UR’s technology captures vein patterns using visible light, meaning that authentication can be done with a smartphone camera.

In the past couple of years, industry experts have been saying enterprise IT is on the cusp of a major shift towards adaptive security. According to Gartner, security is another infrastructure technology that must improve to permeate deeper into the stack, becoming an integral part of application design to harden vulnerable APIs and networks. The research firm contends that In this era of continuous compromise, organizations must shift to a mindset of ‘continuous response.’ However, continuous monitoring will generate an enormous volume, velocity and variety of data, so big data advanced analytics will be the foundation for next- generation security protection solutions.

While fintech has made headway in consumer banking, commercial applications have remained a little behind the curve. However, more professionals in finance are looking to FinTech providers for technological innovation, a survey by TD Bank found. About a third of respondents said they were looking to FinTech providers to provide solutions in areas such as treasury management. This compares with just 23% of respondents who were looking to develop “in-house” solutions for competition, and only 15% of participants who stated that they were looking to hire more “tech-savvy” employees to solve the issue. Financial professionals are also looking to apply some of the same technologies to commercial areas as they have to consumer banking, all citing automation, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology as the top three areas that would have the biggest impact on the commercial space in future years.

Gemalto has been selected by Bank of Cyprus to supply the world's first EMV biometric dual interface payment card for both chip and contactless payments. Using fingerprint recognition instead of a PIN code to authenticate the cardholder, the card is compatible with existing payment terminals already installed in the country. When users place their fingerprint on the sensor, a comparison is performed between the scanned fingerprint and the reference biometric data securely stored in the card. The biometric sensor card is powered by the payment terminal and does not require an embedded battery; this means there is no limit from battery life nor on the number of transactions.

A software-defined network (SDN) gives network engineers the flexibility to dynamically change the behavior of a network on a node-by-node basis — something not typically available in a traditional network. An SDN uses virtualization to simplify the management of network resources and offers a solution for increased capacity without significantly increasing costs. However, there are security challenges with this new model that must be addressed, and this article covers numerous ways to secure your SDN controller.

SD-WAN adoption is sky-rocketing and recent industry analyst forecasts continue to shine a bright light on the growth potential of managed SD-WAN services and SD-WAN technology. For example, Frost & Sullivan predicts a growth in global managed SD-WAN services will accelerate from $700 million in 2017 to $3 billion by the year 2022.

Gamification is about applying elements of game design and principles of game-playing to non-game contexts. Points, leaderboards, and badges are the usual game mechanics that people think of when they think of gamifying an activity, but not everyone finds them motivating. In fact, most game mechanics are only motivating and engaging for some people and not everyone. Combining different game mechanics that appeal to different people is the best bet to keep people engaged and motivated.